Xbox One always-online DRM (2013): did it need fixing?

2013

Microsoft

Before: Xbox 360: put in a disc, play the game, lend it or sell it when you're done.
The fix: Said the Xbox One would need an online check-in every 24 hours and would restrict used and shared games.
Then: At E3, Sony said the PS4 had no such rules and got a long standing ovation. On June 19, 2013, before the console even launched, Microsoft dropped both policies.

Took it back

Reversed about five months before launch.

Your call

More fixes nobody asked for

2025

Cracker Barrel

Before: A man in overalls, known as Uncle Herschel, leaning on a barrel. In use since 1977.
The fix: Dropped the man and the barrel, leaving just the words 'Cracker Barrel' on a gold background.
Then: Complaints started within hours of the August 19 rollout, and the company lost nearly $100 million in market value. In September it also scrapped the restaurant remodels it had been testing.

Took it back

Old logo back on August 26, 2025, one week later.

Your call

2010

Digg

Before: Digg: users submitted links and voted them up to the front page.
The fix: Launched Digg v4 on August 25, 2010, a rebuilt site that shipped buggy and changed how stories reached the front page.
Then: Users left en masse for Reddit. In July 2012 Digg sold for about $500,000. BusinessWeek had valued it at $200 million in 2006.

Kept it.

Never rolled back.

Your call

2009

US EPA and gas can makers

Before: A plastic gas can with a spout and a little vent cap, so the gas poured instead of glugging.
The fix: EPA rules made cans spill-proof and self-closing. Self-closing vents were allowed, but most makers dropped vents entirely.
Then: Sixteen years of slow, glugging pours followed. In July 2025 the EPA wrote to can makers encouraging self-closing vents, and said confusion over its own rules was why the vents had disappeared.

Half took it back

Vents were legal the whole time. Now the EPA is asking makers to use them.

Your call